What is a BETA ? How to report a bug ?

[Carlosan 1,757]

Welcome to the public beta of 3D-Coat !

 

 

What is a BETA?

Despite our best efforts, 3D-Coat cannot possibly test the software under all possible conditions. So, we are providing a version of the application to the general public in order to uncover problems that were not discovered during internal/private testing.  We expect that there will still be problems and we hope that when users encounter any problems, they will report them to the Bug Tracker so that they can be validated, prioritized and fixed.

As with any software classified as being in the BETA phase of development, you should expect to encounter bugs. Any bugs you do encounter while using BETA software can vary in terms of severity, from minor features that do not work correctly to problems that cause your computer to crash. Before choosing to use BETA software for production purposes, you should decide whether the benefit of new features and bug fixes provided by the BETA version outweighs the risk of instability you may encounter.

Public Build, BETA, what is the difference?

Public Build is a release channel, while BETA is a phase of development.

3d-Coat is distributed through two separate channels:

- Production Build - This is where the General Release build is distributed and is open to the general public.

- Public Build - This is where the builds that are not considered stable yet are provided for testing by the general public; this channel typically provides a build that is in the BETA phase of development, but technically can provide a build in the ALPHA phase.

Will this Public Build replace the General Release?

While builds in the Public Build channel do eventually replace the build in the Production Build channel, the existence of a public build does not preclude builds that are currently in the Private Build channel from replacing the General Release before one in the Public Build channel does.  One of the reasons we provide a Public Build channel is to gain broader coverage of the various fixes/additions.  Sometimes fixes/additions in the Public Build channel are validated more quickly than others and can be integrated into the Production Build channel while the remaining, more risky, changes are allowed to “bake” a while longer.

What is new in this version? Do I need to update my copy?

The 4.5 version resolves several issues and implements several improvements since the 4.1 General Release.  More detail on specific fixes/changes/improvements can be found in the Change Log.  All new downloads of the 3D-Coat BETA product will be of this version.

Can I have the General Release and the BETA installed at the same time?

Yes!  You can have both the General Release and a Public Build (as well as a Private Build, for those involved in that endeavor), of the same major version, installed at the same time.  Please be aware that the settings for each of the builds are stored independent of each other.  This includes user folders.

Is there any documentation?

Yes, there is.  And we’re actively working on more.

Check out the User Guide and QuickStart Guide that we’ve posted in the 3d-Coat 4.x Documentation section.

The Reference Guide is also in the process of being populated/updated; updates will be posted over the course of the beta.

*Note: Some pages are still being built.  If you see “permission denied” for a page, that page is not live yet.

[Carlosan 1,757]

No betas releases are perfect. Help us get the issues you report fixed, faster, by checking these short submission guidelines for reporting an issue.

First of all, a bug means the software misbehaves, or not as expected. So if you want added functionality, that would be a feature request, and not a bug report.
If possible, please post in the following format – it helps us SO much if we know what you expected to happen when we chase down a problem.

- Expected Result:  What you expected to happen
- Actual Result: What actually happened.
- Optional:You’d help us even more if you could write a step by step, but as long as we understand what you expected to happen vs what actually did, we’re good.